Carolina Marín announces her retirement at 32, skipping the European Championships in Huelva
The Spanish Olympic champion said on 26 March 2026 she would not risk her knee for a comeback in her home town.
The announcement
Spain's Carolina Marín, 32, announced her retirement on Thursday 26 March 2026 in a video on social media, according to The Star (Reuters), IANS and El Español. She said she did not want to put her body at risk for a last appearance and would not play the European Championships in Huelva, her birthplace, where she had been due to return.
The injury
She was hurt in her semi-final at the Paris 2024 Olympics. El Español says she tore the cruciate ligament and both menisci of her right knee and had not competed since. "Deep down, I did retire on court, in Paris in 2024. We just didn't know it at the time," she said, per The Star.
Her career
All three list the Olympic gold of Rio 2016, won against India's P. V. Sindhu; The Star calls her the first non-Asian woman to win Olympic singles gold. They list three world titles (The Star: 2014, 2015, 2018) while El Español names only 2014 and 2015, so we say three according to two outlets. El Español counts seven European titles, the last in 2024.
Why it matters
It closes the career of the player who made European women's singles a gold-medal contender. She will attend the Huelva event as a spectator, says El Español.